This quarter I’ve been focusing on rethinking everything we do in HR.
One of the biggest things we need to rethink? Performance management.
Traditional performance management consists of annual reviews and rigid ratings and can be:
❌ Ineffective
❌ Outdated
❌ Counterproductive
Spoiler alert: traditional performance management doesn’t really align with what most employees want today.
Says me and maybe all of your employees…
I mean when’s the last time you heard an employee say: “I’m so excited to go through a review process!”
Crickets…
And traditional performance management is often seen as problematic because:
⏰It’s infrequent and not timely: some employees ONLY get feedback during annual reviews and that isn’t enough.
👩🏽⚖️Evaluation becomes the focus, not growth: reviews tend to be all about past performance and not future growth. When it becomes all about a rating and less about skills and growth it begins to feel judgey rather than helpful.
⚖️Bias and subjectivity: There’s sooo much data out there about how unconscious bias creeps into reviews especially for under represented groups. PLEASE just take a minute and read this report from Textio. Also maybe make it required reading for your leadership + management team. Just sayin’
✨ Soooo what can we do about it? ✨
Welllllll, we can ditch traditional performance management tactics of annual reviews and forced feedback and focus on building something that’s human-first, iterative and focuses on growth.
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The dream…
But, let’s be serious – there are some organizations that are NEVER going to ditch their performance management processes despite all the problems employees & HR see.
So that leaves us between a rock & a hard place. Ahh a place I am very familiar with. I’m at home here!
If you can’t convince your org to ditch annual reviews, here are 3 things you can do to actually make annual reviews productive.
AND, it goes without saying – you can always ditch the annual reviews and opt for more regular check-ins. That’s a newsletter for next year!
#1: Build the habit of continuous feedback
The best way to make your annual review super productive?
Make feedback a continuous habit.
Louder for the managers in the back.
Feedback should be a part of everyone’s day to day. To some people that may sound extreme but it is truly how you build a growth minded culture.
Feedback shouldn’t have this intense build up that induces stress and anxiety, it should be natural.
Here are a few ways you can make feedback continuous:
☕Conducting check-ins. I love a quick chat to see how things are going. I chat with my direct report daily and always ask what do you need help with. In this informal convos I can share quick observations and suggestions aka feedback.
Managers should be doing this AT MINIMUM once a week. If managers aren’t talking to their teams what are they doing??
📅Having regular one on ones. This is different from an informal check-in. This is time set aside and devoted to sharing growth related feedback. Here’s a simple distinction: check-ins are to be in the weeds on specific tasks VS a one on one is a zoom out to talk more holistically about growth and feedback. Some helpful questions to ask in a one on one:
- How can I support you better?
- What do you need my guidance on?
- What are you struggling with right now?
Those questions can fuel really important conversations that can lead to great feedback being shared by ALL PARTIES.
The thing about feedback is that it should never be 1-way. It should always be a dialogue meaning be prepared to share some feedback and ACCEPT some feedback. I truly need a whole newsletter on how we can better accept feedback because that is a struggle.
This is where I think most managers struggle. I often hear “well what if I don’t have any feedback?” I find it sooooo hard to believe that there is no feedback in the world to be given.
If you have managers who need help with one on ones the start-stop-continue framework is a great one to try.
📝Leverage project retros. Retros are an EXCELLENT way to give and receive feedback. After every major project I wrap I like to suggest we do a retro and all stakeholders attend. This gives the opportunity for people outside the direct team to share and receive feedback.
Here’s an excellent template for how to run a project retro.
There are opportunities EVERYWHERE to give feedback – open your manager’s and leader’s eyes to that and that’s step 1 in making feedback a continuous habit in your organization.
The bottom line: building a habit of continuous feedback will make those annual reviews a bit more productive. At minimum, it won’t be the only time your employees are getting feedback.
#2: Incorporate personal goals
I get SO SAD when I see an employee’s goals and all that is listed are business goals.
What a missed opportunity!
Yes, business goals are important but I believe there’s also space for personal goals.
Personal goals help employees focus on more than just the business, it allows them to consider their growth and development and things like:
✅Strengths and weaknesses
✅Passions and interests
✅Career aspirations
These personal goals are an opportunity for the employees to drive their own growth.
In the ideal world the personal goals would somehow contribute to the broader company goals.
Some examples of personal goals:
- Learn data analysis skills
- Improve public speaking and leading team meetings
- Collaborate cross functionally with the marketing department on blog posts
- Mentor junior members to practice coaching skills for future management opportunities
Adding personal goals to your goal setting process allows employees the opportunity to focus on development and growth. And this will change the dynamic in your annual reviews.
There’s nothing worse than getting into an annual review conversation and hearing exclusively about business goals and outcomes – some that are out of your control!
When personal goals are included your annual review process will be less about evaluation and more about growth and development.
AND THATS A GOOD THING!
No one wants to just be evaluated, they want to grow, develop and feel valued by their organization.
#3: Leverage better tools
Hot take: maybe your performance management tools aren’t great…
There’s been a lot of talk about how AI is going to change performance management and okay I get it, I really do.
But that shouldn’t be the reason you pick a tool!!
I have eyes on two tools:
Confirm: I’ve had their CEO, David Murray, on HR Therapy and have been SO impressed with what they are building and him. Big David fan. Their tool does so much more than performance management but I’m a bit obsessed with their organizational network analysis (ONA) for how to better understand your talent and their performance.
Textio: I LIVE for their annual report about feedback that I linked above because there are so many interesting findings AND it reinforces a lot of what we know about feedback. Their tool can help managers write better, less biased feedback. The actual dream!!!! If you’re going to do reviews and want them to be effective you need this tool.
You’ll have to check them out and let me know what you think!
Performance management of the past isn’t going to cut it any more – it’s time to think about how to revamp WHAT you’re doing and WHY you’re doing it.
What’s next:
We’re entering gratitude season so let’s have some fun!
Next week is one of my favorite annual traditions where I share what your HR team is grateful for.
And trust me, it might not be what you think…
